You’re busy, you’re tired, but you want to entertain. You envision a home where people enjoy great food, inspiring conversation and lots of laughter, but there’s one small detail. You don’t cook. Sound familiar?

It does to me. As a Wall Street equity analyst, I found myself in this very situation, until one day, I decided enough was enough. I needed to learn how to cook. I wanted to have people over, both people I knew and people I wanted to get to know better. Hosting dinner parties seemed like the perfect solution.

So, in 2004, I walked to the bookstore to look for a book that would tell me exactly how to plan and prepare a multicourse dinner party. Basically, I was looking for an instruction manual that would tell me exactly what to do and when. I knew I could follow directions. I just needed the directions.